There's no better time in the year than the months of summer to raise public awareness to one of the most severe problems in Israel - the lack of shade in public spaces.When we leave our homes in the city during the hot summer months, we immediately search for protection from the scorching sun. But in most cases we do not find it - not close to our homes, not in the streets, not on the benches where we sit to rest our feet, not in the city squares, or parks, or school yards. On a hot summer's day, dense urban centres may be 3-10 degrees hotter than peripheral areas, hence the term an "Urban Heat Island".

However, this need not be our experience of living in the city. We have access to the appropriate technology, why, then, have we failed to create a better quality of life in urban areas? The issue is undoubtedly important enough, as it affects everyone's daily life. Can we blame lack of awareness amongst urban planners, ecologists and architects, who continue to design avenues, squares and parks without any shade?

There are many ways to create public spaces that are cool, comfortable and pleasant despite our wonderful Mediterranean climate. We can contribute to the community's welfare if we pay more attention to the trees, pergolas and other shading systems available to us.

What should we do to place the issue of shading on the municipal agenda and insert it into the academic curriculum? Policymakers should be brave and dare to make a paradigm shift and "think outside the box"; this refers mainly to politicians, budget managers, engineers, planners, ecologists, architects, landscape architects, botanists and educators. The 21st century Israeli city needs a shading umbrella, a canopy that stretches over the cars, people, homes and offices, especially over public areas. Proper shading will have economic, ecological and social consequences; it will help to reduce energy consumption, to cope with global warming and boost community activities.

The exhibition "Urban Shade in Israel" is not just a documentation of current trends. It is a call to action; an appeal to acknowledge shade once again and create "shaded areas" throughout the urban environment. We hope designers and planners will use the recent discoveries made in the study of shading to improve our public areas, as it has been stated before: "A man without qualities is a man without a shadow". In the same vein, one could say: "In a public space without shade is an publicspace without qualities".